Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #518 - And there are always puppies... Dog Holiday Card

Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction's dog for 2016 Holiday Card

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #518 - And there are always puppies... Dog Holiday Card

Satchel telling me she is ready for her walk - 1611.30

Hi Mom,

In the wake of tragedy, it's important to list the things that makes us happy, even when happiness seems the most impossible thing, something that will never be achieved again. At least, this is my outlook. I guess, if I have to be crammed in a box, this makes me a "glass is half full" kind of guy. But I don't like that box because sometimes I really see that glass as half empty.

Hey, maybe it's a quantum state glass? It's BOTH half full AND half empty and full and empty and not there at all depending on how one feels and what one is looking for.

Recently, dogs (all of whom are still puppies at heart) have landed on my list of things that make me happy.

At the top, this is not my dog. Follow this link:

 https://mobile.twitter.com/kellysue/status/799743874151292929

Of course, MY DOG makes me even happier than other people's dogs though all dogs are angels from Heaven, as my wife likes to say.

It's difficult to be positive in the face of loss, of great tragedy. And to compound that difficulty, our area of the state is about to get hammered with up to a foot of snow and by next Tuesday (the day I take my final exam), we could be enjoying January yearly low type temperatures. Winter is here, in case we have forgotten it. Now, I happen to like snow, and I like being snowbound, but only if I can stay home, and I can't today or tomorrow.

But this is about the happy things and not the sad and terrible things.

The snow "carefully, everywhere descending" as ee cummings wrote is beautiful and serene and magical.

Satchel 1611.30

What else?

Yes, there is death and loss and pain.

But there's people we love and who live us. There's good food and strong drinks, coffee, scotch, wine. There's fine art and beautiful music. There's Ultimate, comic books, Kate Bush, fun puzzles, the smell of fabric softener dryer sheets, mackarel sashimi and salmon roe, Christmas Carols, great books, Degas paintings and sculptures of ballerinas, Mozart, great science fiction books, the Charlie Brown Christmas special, the face of the person we love the most, and puppies.

And that's not even a complete list.

I am rocked by the loss a friend of mine has experienced, but it's not my story to tell. But it is a thing that I am trying to make sense of. It is something I am trying to process while life goes on an I have a final exam to study for, papers to grade, classes to teach, and emails to answer.

Why the next thing in my mind is what I am reading, I am not sure. But I consider my reading regimen to be very important.

I finished one book -- The Ritual -- and decided to re-read one of my all-time favorites and one of (maybe the single best) SF novel of all time: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. I am listening my way through Prince Lestat by Anne Rice, which is quite excellent.

And Liesel and I watched some Portlandia last night and an episode of The Walking Dead while eating a vegetarian chili with a smoky flavor and kale.

And there's a winter storm advisory tonight.

 So it goes,

Same as it ever was.

Satchel 1611.30

I have great love for you all, inspired by you, Mom, you who taught me to love.

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 520 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1612.06 - 10:10

NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.